AZ child support payments seeing delays after system upgrade

A system upgrade led to widespread issues for Valley families relying on child support payments.

Imagine having a partial source of your income suddenly come to a halt. That is what happened to Sarah, a single mom and primary provider for her son.

“My son is a teenager. He’s a growing boy so.. with the school year starting it’s just become difficult to budget for basic needs like groceries,” said Sarah.

Sarah relies on the state’s Division of Child Support Services for alimony and other court-ordered payments. But toward the end of June, she noticed her payments starting to stall.

She was finally able to reach someone for answers.

“And they were able to tell me that these payments are being delayed statewide, that nobody is getting their payments. Some people have amounts as little as 53 cents deposited into their account,” said Sarah.

DCSS tells ABC15 they recently completed an upgrade to a new case management system; that led to a temporary service disruption.

For Sarah, it has meant late payments for bills, tough budgeting for groceries and even threats of utility service disconnections.

“I’ve just had to reach a promise-to-pay settlement for my cell phone carrier because of this,” said Sarah.

DCSS says measures have been put in place to address their system issues. And they are working to review all cases and resolve any delays in payments promptly.

Sarah is still waiting for her full payments and says all she wants is certainty for her son.

“I try not to worry him about it because, obviously as parents, it’s our job to protect our kids from worrying about things like this,” said Sarah.